Lolla '10

Lady Gaga may have been ready for her diva moment at Lollapalooza, but Lolla wasn’t quite ready for her.

In an indulgent, two-hour set that left crowds retreating to the Strokes in steady droves, Gaga made it clear that she’d come a long way since her last Lolla gig, an unremarkable stint on the BMI stage in 2007. Bringing back the disco bra and panties she wore for that set, Gaga reaffirmed her awesomeness while we all listened in, “ The BMI Stage was a quacking train wreck. You were born a superstar!” Her rambling bordered on therapy at times, as she repeatedly referenced how mean everyone was to her in high school. “No one quacking believed in me, but we did it. And look at all of us now.”

At a fest that’s never been pop-music friendly, Gaga seemed to have her work cut out for her from the get go, but tens of thousands packed the south end of Grant Park Friday night to see what sort of surprises Gaga would bring. She was surprising, alright, but for all the wrong reasons.

From the beginning, Gaga felt completely disconnected from her audience. Her opening number, “Dance in the Dark,” took place almost entirely behind a curtain, with Gaga’s silhouette vogueing every 30 seconds or so. At the end of the song, the diva simply panted into the microphone (a recurring theme) and stared, begging the crowd to…wait…for…it. When “it” finally came, it was a campy sketch in which one of her dancers fumbled with the engine of a broken down car on stage, saying, “Oh noooooo! Now we’ll never make it to the Monster Ball.”

“Yes you will,” Gaga deadpanned, removing a purple mask that looked as if it came from a remake of “The Fly.” “I’ll take you there.”
With such a ridiculous setup, she had nowhere to go but up, but Gaga continued to play the diva card to a fault throughout the show, and the crowd abandoned her as a result. Without the campy theatrics, the show had all the makings of a thriller.

The set was absolutely spectacular by any standards, let alone for an outdoor festival. Neon lights created a gritty urban environment, even before the El train pulled onstage and opened to reveal Gaga singing “Love Game” in a see-through Flying Nun getup. And who could predict that she would pop the hood of a car on stage to reveal a piano that she’d play with her stiletto heels? Her theatrics on the piano and an impressive run on a strap-on keyboard the size of a Christmas tree, combined with spot-on vocals, prove Gaga is no slouch. But it’s hard to look past a woman screaming at a mechanical octopus’ “monster” tentacles, “Don’t rape me, monster!”

Even her attempts to send a positive message fell victim to ridiculous antics. “Fight for what you believe in!” Gaga told her “little monsters” as fireworks shot out of her ta-tas. Seriously? The Fame Monster may be more dangerous than anyone believed.

Lady Gaga's two hour headliner set did an awful lot, but it said so little. The overwhelming theme of the night was to "be who you are," and to put all of your insecurities aside. I was waiting for "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" Dr. Frankenfurter to march down a spiral staircase and tell us all, "Don't Dream It, Be It".....

We were just as excited as the fans. What was going to happen? Something we'd all be talking about for the weekend? Maybe even years to come?

Maybe my expectations were high, but there was certainly a buzz in the air about what to expect. What we got was a lot of drama, a good few minutes before a word was ever spoken on stage. A few songs into the set, which had Gaga setting the scene for her "Monster Ball" theme, one colleague threw up his hands and exclaimed - "The hell with this, I don't even know any of these songs!"

What started with quiet anticipation had devolved into a flurry of wisecracks. Each time Gaga would stop her set to tell the audience how to feel about each other, you could hear the collective eyes roll. Just play your music and entertain the crowd - trust me, they're already living plenty free.

I fear that she's falling into the shock value trap - what is she wearing? What did she do? What did she say about Prop 8? What did she say about that immigration law in Arizona?

I don't care what Lady Gaga thinks of any of those things, especially the way I live my own life. I care that she makes good music, and in this case, puts forth an entertaining live performance that will blow me away. It's a headling show for 75,000 people - expectations should be somewhat high.

I also expect somebody called Lady Gaga to be creatively provocative, but jumping into a crowd topless and making out with your friends is just desperate. Can't we be more interesting than that?

We ended up leaving her set early, along with scores of grumbling others. I read in the metromix.com review that Lady ended up covered in blood in front of a statue of Jesus and shooting flames from her chest and crotch region.

It's funny - because when I think back to Radiohead's wonderful set in Grant Park a few years ago, I don't remember anything about Thom Yorke's crotch. When I think about Daft Punk's mind-bending groove session on the same stage, I don't recall them screaming generalities about life.

I just remember falling into the music, turning back and taking in the Chicago skyline. When you have so many people gathered for the same purpose, there's some magic to be had.

Lady Gaga wore some wild outfits.

Woo.

She tallked too much. She doesn't know her venue. In the stadium venue, it would probably work very well. At Lollapalooza? It didn't work. Everybody just kept leaving and leaving.